St. Nicholas Cabasilas: The blessed flesh

Christ the Lord was Himself anointed, not by receiving chrism poured on the head, but by receivng the Holy Spirit. For the sake of the flesh which He had assumed He became the treasury of all spiritual energy. He is not only Christ [the Anointed One] but also Chrism [anointing], for it says, “Your name is ointment poured forth” (Cant. 1:3) The latter He is from the beginning, the other He became afterwards. As long as that by which God would impart His own did not exist, He was the Chrism and remained in Himself. 

Afterwards the blessed flesh was created which received the entire fulness of the Godhead (Col. 1:19). To it, as John says, “God did not give the Spirit by measure” (Jn. 3:34), but He infused into Him His entire living riches. It was then that the Chrism was poured forth into that flesh, so it is now called the Christ. By being imparted to the flesh the divine Chrism Himself was poured forth.

He did not change place, nor did He penetrate or pass over a wall, but as He Himself showed, He left no barrier standing which could seperate us from Him. Since God occupies every place He was not seperated from man by place, but by man’s variance with Him. Our nature seperated itself from God by being contrary to Him in everything that it possessed and by having nothing in common with Him. God remained Himself alone; our nature was man, and no more.

When, however, flesh was deified and human nature gained possession of God Himself by hypostatic union, the former barrier opposed to God became joined to the Chrism. The difference gave way when God became man, thus removing the seperation between Godhead and manhood. So chrism represents Christ as the point of contact between both natures; there could be no point of contact were they still seperate. (The Life in Christ, The Third Book 2)

St. Athanasius of Alexandria: The Scriptures and true knowledge

For the searching of the Scriptures and true knowledge of them, an honourable life is needed, and a pure soul, and that virtue which is according to Christ; so that the intellect guiding its path by it, may be able to attain what it desires, and to comprehend it, in so far as it is accessible to human nature to learn concerning the Word of God. For without a pure mind and a modelling of the life after the saints, a man could not possibly comprehend the words of the saints. 

For just as, if a man wished to see the light of the sun, he would at any rate wipe and brighten his eye, purifying himself in some sort like what he desires, so that the eye, thus becoming light, may see the light of the sun; or as, if a man would see a city or country, he at any rate comes to the place to see it—thus he that would comprehend the mind of those who speak of God must needs begin by washing and cleansing his soul, by his manner of living, and approach the saints themselves by imitating their works; so that, associated with them in the conduct of a common life, he may understand also what has been revealed to them by God, and thenceforth, as closely knit to them, may escape the peril of the sinners and their fire at the Day of Judgment, and receive what is laid up for the saints in the Kingdom of Heaven, which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man,whatsoever things are prepared for them that live a virtuous life (1 Cor. 2:9), and love the God and Father, in Christ Jesus our Lord: through Whom and with Whom be to the Father Himself, with the Son Himself, in the Holy Spirit, honour and might and glory for ever and ever. Amen. 

(On the Incarnation of the Word, 57)

St. Epiphanius of Cyprus: Female Priests

St. Epiphanius of Cyprus: If God had so arranged things that the priesthood would be entrusted to women and that they would exercise a canonical role in the Church, first of all, before any other woman in the New Testament, He would have granted the priesthood to Mary, who was so honored that she carried the universal King in her womb.

(Mary and the Fathers of the Church, The Blessed Virgin in Patristic Thought by Luigi Gambero pp. 127-128)

Dialogue Between a Montanist and an Orthodox ca. 4th cent.

We do not reject the prophecies of women. Blessed Mary prophesied when she said: “Henceforth all generations will call me blessed.” And, as you yourself say, Philip had daughters who prophesied and Mary, the sister of Aaron, prophesied. But we do not permit women to speak in the assemblies, nor to have authority over men, to the point of writing books in their own name: since, such is, indeed, the implication for them of praying with uncovered head…wasn’t Mary, the Mother of God, able to write books in her own name? To avoid dishonoring her head by placing herself above men, she did not do so. 

(The Gospel of Mary: Beyond a Gnostic and a Biblical Mary Magdelene by Esther A. de Boer pg. 94)

1. Epiphanius of Salamis (inter 310–320 – 403) was bishop of Salamis, Cyprus at the end of the 4th century. He is considered a saint and a Church Father by both the Eastern Orthodox and Catholic Churches. He gained a reputation as a strong defender of orthodoxy. He is best known for composing a very large compendium of the heresies up to his own time, full of quotations that are often the only surviving fragments of suppressed texts, and for instigating, with Tychon (Bishop of Amathus), a persecution against the non-Christians living on Cyprus, and the destruction of most of their temples

St. Maximus the Confessor: On Judging the Heterodox

They have repeatedly excommunicated themselves from the Church and are completely unstable in the faith. Additionally, they have been cut off and stripped of priesthood… What Mysteries, then, can they perform? And what spirit descends on those whom they ordain?”

“So then, you alone will be saved, and all others will perish?” the Emperor’s men objected.

The saint explained, “When the people in Babylon worshipped the golden idol, the Three Holy Youths condemned no one. Their concern was not for the doings of others, but that they themselves should not fall away from piety. When Daniel was cast into the lion’s den, he did not condemn those who, obeying Darius, failed to worship God, but kept in mind his own duty. He preferred to die rather than sin against conscience and transgress God’s law. God forbid that I should judge anyone or say that I alone will be saved! Nevertheless, I would rather die than violate my conscience by betraying the Orthodox faith in any particular.

 (St. Dimitri Rostov, The Life of St. Maximus the Confessor)

St. Symeon the New Theologian: The Three Ways of Attention

There are three ways of attention and prayer, by which the soul can be lifted and become spiritually exhaulted, or crumble and perish. If these three ways are used appropriately and at the right time, the soul will be lifted, whilst if they are used unreasonably and at the wrong time, the soul will perish. 

Attention therefore should be tied and inseparable to prayer, in the way that the body is tied and inseparable to the soul. Attention should have the lead and mind for enemies as a guard, and fight sin, and resist evil thoughts of the soul. It should be then succeeded by prayer, which will destroy all those evil thoughts which attention fought against earlier, since attention alone is not able to do this.

It is this war of attention and prayer on which both life and death of the soul depend. By attention that we keep our prayer safe and therefore we progress: if we do not have attention to keep it clear and we leave it unguarded, then it is inflected by evil thoughts and we become wicked and hopeless. Hence, the ways of attention and prayer are three, we ought to explain the features of each one and leave the choice to whoever may wish to find salvation.

The first way of attention and prayer

The features of the first way are these: one stands to pray by raising his hands towards the sky together with his eyes and mind. He imagines divine concepts, the good things of Heaven, the armies of the holy angels, the residences of the saints and, in short, he gathers in his mind all that he has heard from the Holy Scriptures. He recalls them in the time of his prayer looking at the sky, and he exhorts his soul to what seems to be love and eros of God. Sometimes he even has tears and cries. In this way his soul gradually becomes proud without realising it, thinking that what he does is by the grace of God's compassion for him. Hence he pleads God to always grant him worthy of such deeds which are, however, signs of error. 

A good thing ceases to be good, when it is carried out in the wrong way or at the wrong time. To such an extent this is the case here that, if this person finds perfect solitude, it will be impossible for him not to lose his mind. Should this not happen, it will still be impossible for him to acquire any virtues or detachment from the earthly. By this method are misled all those who see the Light with their bodily eyes, sense perfumes with their sense of smell, hear voices with their ears and so on. Some of them have been possessed, moving senselessly from one place to the other. Others have been misled by accepting the Devil who was transformed and appeared to them as an angel of light, and they have remained uncorrected until the very end, without wanting to hear any advice from their brothers. Some of them were even incited by the Devil and committed suicide, whilst others were crumbled and others became insane. Who can describe the various illusions of the Devil by which he misleads them!

Every reasonable person can understand the kind of damage that comes from this first way of attention and prayer. If it happens that someone by being accompanied by brothers (since these evils usually happen to those who are on their own) does not suffer any of the things we described, he nevertheless spends all his life with no spiritual improvement.

The second way of attention and prayer

The second way is this: when someone concentrates his mind in himself, detaching it from all that is earthly, guarding his senses, and gathering his thoughts so that they are not scattered to the vain things of the world. Sometimes he examines his thoughts and sometimes he pays attention to the words of the prayer he recites. Sometimes he returns to his thoughts that were trapped by the Devil and were drawn to that which is evil and vain, and sometimes with much effort and struggle he comes back to himself, after being defeated and possessed by some weakness.

Having this battle and war with himself, he cannot find peace nortime to do the virtuous good deeds and receive the crown of righteousness. For this man is like the one who fights a war against his enemies in darkness and night; who hears the voices of the enemy and suffers being stabbed, yet he cannot see clearly who they are, where they came from and how, and why they are attacking him. For this damage is caused by the darkness in his mind and the confusion in his thoughts and therefore he can never escape from his enemies, the demons, so that they will stop defeating him. The piteous suffers in vain, for he loses his reward being possessed by vanity without realising it, by thinking he is attentive. Many times he condemns the others and accuses them, praising himself and thinking that he is worthy to become shepherd of rational sheep, guiding others. He is like the blind person who promises to guide other blind people!

This is the second way; anyone who wishes to find salvation needs start by learning the damage that it causes to the soul, and be cautious. This second way is, nevertheless, better than the first, for the sky with Moon is better than the dark night without it.

The third way of attention and prayer

The third way is indeed strange and difficult to explain, whilst,to those who are not aware of it, it is often incomprehendable, appearing unreal and impossible that any such thing can happen. This is because in these days the third way is not found in many, but rather in very few. As I understand, this virtue abandoned us together with obedience, since it is the obedience one shows to his spiritual father which makes one trully free, leaving all the cares to him and staying away from the struggles of this world, whilst being a diligent artisan of this third way. (That is, if one finds a real spiritual father who has no error!) Thus he who dedicates himself and all the care to God and the spiritual father, by real obedience is no longer living his own life where he does his own wishes, but is free from any struggle of the world or his body. By what ephemeral thing then, can this person ever be spirtually defeated or enslaved, or what care or concern could he ever have? It is therefore by this way, together with obedience, that the devices and machinations of the demons to distract the mind towards many and various thoughts, are all defeated and dissolved. One's mind then stays free, and has plenty of space and chance to examine the thoughts brought by the demons, having a greater dexterity to expel them and offer his prayers to God with a clean heart. This is the beginning of the true way of life and those who do not make such a start are struggling in vain, even without knowing it.

The beginning of the third way is not by looking up to the sky, raising the hands, having your mind in heaven and asking for help from there. As we have said, these are of the first way and they are false. Nor is it to guard the senses with the mind and concentrate exclusively on this, whilst neither being attentive nor seeing the inner wars of the soul conducted by the enemies. These are all of the second way. He who uses them is trapped by the demons and is unable to revenge those who trapped him, whilst the enemies are always fighting him both secretly and openly, making him proud and vain.

But you, my friend, if you seek your salvation you should start in this way: after the perfect obedience which we said you should have to your spiritual father, you should then conduct all your deeds with a clear conscience, as if you had God in front of you, for conscience can never be clear without obedience. You should keep your conscience clear towards these things: God, spiritual father, other people and earthly things. Towards God, it is an obligation to keep your conscience clear by avoiding the things you are aware that He neither likes nor give Him any joy. Towards your spiritual father you should do the things he orders you to do, doing nothing more and nothing less, living according to his plan and wish. As for the other people, you should keep your conscience clear by not doing to them any of the things you hate and do not wish them to do to you. Towards the earthly it is your obligation to restrain yourself from abuses, using them all appropriately, food as well as drinking and clothes. In short, you should do everything as if you had God in front of you, making sure that your conscience does not restrain nor condemn you for not doing something right. This is the beginning of the true and firm route of the third way of attention and prayer.

The third way of attention and prayer is then this: the mind should guard the heart in the time of prayer and always stay inside it. From there, from the depths of the heart, it should then lift up the prayers to God. For once it tries inside the heart and tastes and is soothed--as the Lord is good!--then the mind will never want to leave the place of the heart. It will there repeat the words of Peter the apostle: "It is wonderful for us to be here!" [Mt 17:4, Mk 9:5, Lk 9:33] Then it will always wish to look inside the heart, remaining there and pushing aside and expelling all the concepts which are planted by the Devil. To those who have not realised this work of salvation and remain unaware of it, this will most of the times seem very hard and unpleasant. But those who have tasted its sweetness and enjoyed the pleasure inside the depths of their hearts, they all cry together with Paul: "What could ever come between us and the love of God?" [Rm 8:38-39]

Our holy fathers have listened the Lord who said that from the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, perjury, slander [Mt 15:19] and how these are the things that make a man unclean. [Mt 15:20] Further, they have listened to the part of the gospel where we are ordered to clean the inside of cup and dish first so that the outside may become clean as well. [Mt 23:26] They therefore left aside any other spiritual work and concentrated exclusively on guarding the heart, being confident that through this they would easily achieve all other virtues, whilst without it no virtue can be preserved. This practice was called by some fathers 'serenity of the heart', whilst others named it 'attention', others 'sobriety' and 'detainment', others 'examination of the thoughts' and 'guarding of the mind'; for they were all absorbed in this, and by this they were found worthy to accept the divine virtues.

It is for this that the Ecclesiastes says: Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thy heart blameless and clear, and prevent your heart from thoughts. [Eccl. 11:9 (LXX)] The same is said in the Proverbs: If Devil makes an assault on you, do not let him enter your place, [Eccl. 10:4 (LXX)] where 'the place' means the heart. The Lord Himself tells us in the Gospel that we must not worry, [Lk 12:29] in other words not to scatter our minds here and there. Again, in a different passage He says: Happy are those poor in spirit, [Mt 5:3] meaning that happy are those who never acquired any concern of this world in their hearts and are free from all earthly thoughts. All our holy fathers wrote much on this, so may he who wishes to read their works look for those written by St. Mark the Ascetic, St. John of Klimax, St. Hesychios, Philotheos of Sinai, Abba Hesaites, Barsanouphios the Great and many others.

In short, he who is not attentive to guard his mind cannot be cleansed in his heart and be therefore worthy to see God. He who is not attentive can never be poor in spirit nor can he ever mourn and cry, or become gentle and peaceful, or hunger and thirst for justice, or become merciful, peacemaker, or persecuted in the cause of right. [Mt 5:3-10] It is quite impossible to acquire any virtue by any means other than attention. It is attention that you should mostly take care of, to be able then to understand the things I am saying. If now you wish to learn the way to achieve this, I will tell you.

There are three things you should preserve beyond anything else: disinterest in everything reasonable or unreasonable and vain, in other words detachment from everything; then clear conscience in everything, as we have said, by not causing its judgement for anything; finally complete peace, having your mind detached from anything earthly. When you have all these, find a place quiet, seat alone in a corner, shut the door [Mt 6:6] and cease your mind from anything ephemeral and vain. Press your chin on to your chest so that you can have your attention in yourself, with both eyes and mind. Hold your breath slightly to concentrate your mind and then, having all your mind there, try to find the place of your heart. In the beginning, what you will discover is darkness, much callousness and evil. But then, after having practised this method of attention a lot, night and day, you will find--great wonder!--an incessant happiness! The mind, through struggle, will have finally reached the place of the heart, where you will see the things you have never seen or known. There you will see the heaven which is within you, inside the heart, and you will find yourself enlightened, full of all grace and virtue.

From there on, if any kind of evil thought ever appears from any direction, before even being considered or take shape, you will immediately push it aside and dissolve it by the name of Jesus with his prayer: "Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me." Hence forth the mind will begin to bear grudge and animosity against the demons, being in an incessant war. It will raise its justified wrath and hunt them, attack them, dissolve them. As for the things following beyond that, those you may find out yourself, with God's help, through your effort and the attention of your mind, keeping Jesus in your heart with His prayer: "Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me." That is why a Church-father used to say: "Stay in your cell and that will teach you everything!"

QUESTION. Why is it not possible to achieve all this through the first and the second way?

ANSWER. Because we are not using them as we should. St. John of Klimax compares these ways with a ladder of four steps and explains: There are those who lessen their weaknesses and humble them, others who chant, praying with their voices, others who are absorbed in the spiritual prayer and others who reach observance. Those therefore who wish to climb these steps, do not start from the top one coming down but begin from the lower ones and go upwards. They step on the first step and then on the second, then on the third one and finally on the fourth. It is by this way that one is able to be lifted from the earth and ascend to heaven. First of all one needs to fight to diminish and cease his weaknesses. Only then he should become absorbed in chanting: praying with his voice. It is once one has diminished his weaknesses that prayer brings pleasure and sweetness to the tongue, and he may be considered near to and appreciated by God. Then one needs to start praying with his spirit, and finally he will reach observance. The first is of the beginners, the second of those who are increasing their virtues, the third of those who have reached the fulfilment of virtue, whilst the fourth belongs to the perfect.

The beginning, therefore, is nothing else but the diminution and cessation of the weaknesses, which are not diminished in the soul in any other way but through attention and guarding of the heart. It is the heart where they come from, as our Lord says, the evil thoughts that make a man unclean, [Mt 15:19-20] and it is there where guard and attention is needed. Once weaknesses are totally diminished by the resistance of the heart, then the mind comes to yearn and seek the way to reconcile with God, extenting its prayer and becoming further absorbed in it. Through this desire and prayer, the mind is strengthened and dismisses all the thoughts that have surrounded it in order to find their way into the heart, and fights them with prayer. 

Then starts a war and the evil demons resist with great distress, causing confusion and giddiness in the heart, exploiting its weaknesses. However, by the Name of Jesus Christ they are all dissolved and melt like wax in the fire. Even after being cast out and having left the heart, demons do not relinquish but disturb the mind externally, through the senses. Nevertheless, the mind will very quickly feel the tranquillity which is within, for they have no power to disturb the depths of the mind but only the surface. To escape completely from this war and stop being confronted by the evil demons is impossible. This belongs to the perfect and those who trully left everything behind and became wholly dedicated to the prayer of the heart.

He who therefore uses these means accordingly, each one at the right time, after having cleansed his heart from weaknesses he can then become dedicated in chanting, and fight the thoughts, and look up at the sky with his sensual eyes (if he feels the need to do that some time) and stare to it with the spiritual eyes of the soul, and pray honestly and truthfully, as it is appropriate. Looking at the sky should nevertheless be avoided, for the danger of evil demons who are there, who are called spirits of the air. These can cause various different delusions, and so we ought be cautious. This is the only thing that God asks us to do: to have our heart cleansed through prayer. According to the Apostle, if the root is holy then the branches and the fruit are likewise holy. [Rm 11:16] Without the way which we have described, he who raises his eyes and mind to heaven and imagines various concepts, is bound to see creations of his imagination, things false and untrue, coming from his unclean heart.

As we have repeatedly said, the first and the second way do not bring any spiritual advancement. When we want to build a house, we do not make the roof first and then lay the foundation--for this is impossible!--but we firstly lay the foundation, then build the house and then add the roof. We should do the same in spiritual matters: first lay the foundation, which is to guard the heart and cast out its weaknesses; then build the spiritual house, which is to cast out the evil spirits fighting us through our senses; finally, having overcome the war as soon as possible, add the roof, which is to depart from all things earthly, and give ourselves completely to God. Thus we complete our spiritual house in Christ our God, to whom all glory is due, unto the ages of ages. Amen.-

St Basil the Great - New Beginnings Make New Endings

 

I had wasted much time on follies and spent nearly all of my youth in vain labors, and devotion to the teachings of a wisdom that God had made foolish. Suddenly, I awoke as out of a deep sleep. I beheld the wonderful light of the Gospel truth, and I recognized the nothingness of the wisdom of the princes of this world.

St Basil the Great

St. Irenaeus of Lyons: From the Will and from the virgin earth

 

Whence then is the substance of the first-formed (man)? From the Will and the Wisdom of God, and from the virgin earth. For God had not sent rain, the Scripture says, upon the earth, before man was made; and there was no man to till the earth. From this, then, whilst it was still virgin, God took dust of the earth and formed the man, the beginning of mankind. So then the Lord, summing up afresh this man, took the same dispensation of entry into flesh, being born from the Virgin by the Will and the Wisdom of God; that He also should show forth the likeness of Adam’s entry into flesh, and there should be that which was written in the beginning, man after the image and likeness of God.

 

And just as through a disobedient virgin man was stricken down and fell into death, so through the Virgin who was obedient to the Word of God man was reanimated and received life.  For the Lord came to seek again the sheep that was lost; and man it was that was lost: and for this cause there was not made some other formation, but in that same which had its descent from Adam He preserved the likeness of the (first) formation. For it was necessary that Adam should be summed up in Christ, that mortality might be swallowed up and overwhelmed by immortality; and Eve summed up in Mary, that a virgin should be a virgin’s intercessor, and by a virgin’s obedience undo and put away the disobedience of a virgin. (Proof of Apostolic Preaching, 32-33)

St. Symeon the New Theologian - The vision of God and the Holy Eucharist

 

I say that the ineffable speech which Paul heard spoken in Paradise were the eternal good things which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived. These things, which God has prepared for those who love Him, are not protected by heights, nor enclosed in some secret place, nor hidden in the depths, nor kept at the ends of the earth or sea. They are right in front of you, before your very eyes. So, what are they? Together with the good things stored up in heaven, these are the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ which we see every day, and eat, and drink. 

These, we avow, are those good things. Outside of these, you will not be able to find one of the things spoken of, even if you were to traverse the whole of creation. If you do not want to know the truth of my words, become holy by practicing God's commandments and then partake of the holy things, and you will know precisely the force of what I am telling you. But, for further confirmation, listen to the words of the Lord Himself when He speaks thus to the Jews and to His own disciples:

"Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven; My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. They said to Him: Lord, give us this bread always. Jesus said to them: I am the bread of life, he who comes to Me shall not hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst...The Jews then murmured at this, because He said I am the bread which came down from heaven. They said: Is this not the son of Joseph whose father and mother we know? How does He now say, I have come down from heaven?" [Jn. 6:32-35; 41-42]

So then, you must not be like the Jews as well, muttering and saying: "Is not this the bread on the diskos and the wine in the chalice which we see every day, and which we eat and drink? How does this man say that these are those good things which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived?" Listen instead to what the Lord said in reply to them:

"Do not murmur among yourselves. No one can come to Me unless the Father Who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day." [Jn. 6:44]

He says, as it were: "Why do you disbelieve and doubt this? No one can know My divinity - for this is the same as to come to Me - unless my Father draws him." In speaking of attraction, He makes it clear that there is no compulsion, but rather that He has invited through revelation those whom He foreknew and predestined, it being evident that He attracts them by virtue of their love for the One Who is thus revealed to them. This is indicated still more clearly in the following: "It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall be taught by God' " [Jn. 6:45]. He who is taught by God is thus able to believe in the Son of God and, having learned from the Father, comes to Me. "Not that anyone has seen the Father except Him Who is from God; He has seen the Father" [Jn. 6:46]. Again He says:

"Truly, truly I say to you, he who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that a man may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if anyone eats of this bread he will live forever; and the bread which I shall give for this life of the world is My flesh. The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying; How can this man give us His flesh to eat? So Jesus said to them; Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. He then who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed." [Jn. 6:47-55]

You have heard that the communion in the divine and immaculate mysteries is everlasting life, and that the Lord says He will raise up at the last day those who have everlasting life. This is not, certainly, that anyone else will be left in the tombs, but that those who have life will be raised by the Life to life everlasting while the rest are raised to the eternal death of damnation. And, that this is the truth, listen to what follows:

"He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me will live because of Me." [Jn. 6:54-55]

Do you see what He is saying? The Son of God cries out plainly that our union with Him through communion is such as the unity and life which He has with the Father. Thus, just as He is united by nature to His own Father and God, so are we united by grace to Him, and live in Him, by eating His flesh and drinking His blood. And, in order that we not think that everything is reduced to the visible bread, He says several times on this account: "I am the bread which comes down from heaven." Now, He did not say "Who came down", because this would indicate that the "coming down" was a one-time event. What then? 

He says, "Who comes down," clearly because He is always and forever descending on those who are worthy, and that this occurs both now and at every hour. And more: detaching our minds from visible things, or better, leading us up through them to the invisible glory of the divinity in His Person, He says: "I am the bread of life" [Jn. 6:48]; and again: "My Father gives you bread not from the earth, but the true bread from heaven" [cf. Jn. 6:32]. When He said "the true bread from heaven," He indicated that the bread of the earth is false, that it profits nothing.

Now, in order to make this still more clear, He says: "The bread of God is that which comes down from heaven, and gives life to the world" [Jn. 6:33]. Once more He says "comes down," and "gives life." Why this? So that you should suspect nothing physical, nor conceive anything earthly, but instead see this bread with spiritual eyes, and see that this little particle is made divine, and has become altogether like the bread which came down from heaven, which is true God, both the bread and drink of immortal life; so that you should not be content with unbelief and with just the visible bread which is perceived by the senses, and so not eat the heavenly, but only the earthly bread, and thus be deprived of life for not having eaten the heavenly bread in spirit. So Christ Himself says: "It is the Spirit which gives life; the flesh is of no avail" [Jn. 6:63]. 

Whom, then, does it not profit? Those, He says, who say He is merely a man, and not God. Therefore, if you, yourself a believer, partake of mere bread and not of a deified body when receiving Him, the whole Christ Himself, how do you hope to take life from Him and with full awareness possess within yourself Him, the same Lord Who says: "He who eats the bread which comes down from heaven lives forever" [cf. Jn. 6:58], and again: "The flesh avails nothing; it is the Spirit Who gives life"? 

It is the Spirit Who is really the true food and drink. It is the Spirit Who changes the bread into the Lord's body. It is the Spirit Who really purifies us and makes us partake worthily of the body of the Lord. Those, on the other hand, who partake unworthily of the same, as the Apostle says, "eat and drink judgement upon themselves" as not discerning the Lord's body [1 Cor. 11:29].

Come therefore, as many as believe, as many of you as understand the power of the mysteries as we have explained it, as many as have eaten the heavenly bread, as many as from it and through it and in it and with it possess everlasting life, and, in this true life, let us all be caught up in the Spirit to the third heaven, or better, in spirit to the heaven itself of the Holy Trinity, so that, at once seeing and hearing, tasting and smelling and assuredly touching with the hands of our soul everything which has been said - and all that which remains ineffable - we may send up a hymn of thanksgiving to God and say: "Glory to You, Who have appeared and deigned to be revealed to and seen by us." Let us also say publicly to all our brothers, monks, and lay, rich, poor, slaves and free, young and old, and all of every age and race, listen to us!

Saint Nicodemos of the Holy Mountain - The Lord Did Not Have Imagination

The new Adam, our Lord, did not have imaginations, according to the theologians. One of them, Georgios Koresios, wrote in his theological treatise on the Incarnation: "The Lord deserved merit not for his blessed vision and knowledge and the love that flowed from it, but for the knowledge that was poured upon him from God, and which was always active in Christ voluntarily and never interrupted by sleep or any other cause, as it happens in the mind of other men. 

The mind of Christ was completely independent of the imaginations which become a wall blocking our penetration into the immaterial realities of the spirit." Not only Adam but most persons who have ever fallen into sin and deceptions, into irrational superstitions and heresies and evil and corrupt doctrines, have all been deceived through the imagination. This is the reason why the holy Fathers call the devil a pantomime and an ancient painter, as we have seen especially in St. Chrysostom. St. Maximos has noted that the devils deceive men not only when awake but also when they are sleeping, but inciting them with the passions of the body through the imagination. This imagination is considered by the Fathers to be a bridge of the devils. 

St. Kallistos has written: "Imagination is like a multiform and many-head monster similar to the mythical Daedalos and Hydra, which the devil utilizes as a sort of bridge, as the saints have previously noted. These murderous villains communicate and unite themselves with the soul , making it into a hive of parasites, a place of passionate and fruitless thoughts." St. Gregory the Theologian said that imagination is the cause of both the consent and the act of sin. Do you see now, dear friend, how many evil things imagination brings about? I beseech you therefore, to guard your imagination as much as you possibly can so that no images harmful to the soul are impressed upon it, as they seek to enter through the senses.

 And if they have already entered, seek not to compromise with them or to give your consent in your heart, but run directly to God through prayer of the heart, which we are going to discuss in the following chapter. St. Syngletike has noted: "It is important not to give your consent to the imaginations. For it is written that if the spirit of the devil arises in you, do not leave the place of your heart, for such a consent is tantamount to wordly fornication" (cf. Eccl 10:4).

Fr. John Romanidis: Mental illness and demonic possession in Patristic tradition

The definition of mental illness from a Patristic point of view is that people are mentally ill when the noetic energy they have inside them is not functioning properly. In other words, being mentally ill means your nous is full of thoughts [logismoi], not only bad thoughts, but good thoughts as well.

In other words, according to the Church Fathers, anyone whose soul has not been purified from the passions and who has not reached the state of illumination through the grace of the Holy Spirit is mentally ill, but not in the psychiatric sense. For a psychiatrist, being mentally ill is something else. It means suffering from psychosis or being schizophrenic. For Orthodoxy, however, if you have not been purified of the passions and have not reached a state of illumination, are you normal or abnormal? That is the question.

Who is considered a normal [i.e., spiritually healthy] Orthodox Christian in the Patristic tradition? If you want to see this clearly, read the service of Holy Baptism, read the service of Holy Chrism that is held at the Patriarchate of Constantinople [and in various other patriarchates] on Holy Thursday, read the service for the consecration of Church sanctuaries. There you will see what it means to be a temple of the Holy Spirit. There you will see who is illumined.

In all of the Church services, as well as the ascetic tradition of the Church, mainly three spiritual states are mentioned: (1) the state in which the soul and body have beenpurified from the passions, (2) the state in which the human nous has been illuminedby the grace of the Holy Spirit, and (3) the state in which the human soul and body experience theosis [deification, glorification]. For the most part, however, they speak about purification and illumination [the first two stages], since the Church services are expressions of reasonable [rational, logiki] worship.

So who is the normal Orthodox Christian? Can someone who has been baptized but not purified be considered normal? What about someone who has not yet been illumined? Or is it someone who has been purified and illumined? Naturally someone in the last category is a normal Orthodox Christian. [In other words, the only non-mentally ill, normal, healthy Orthodox Christians are those who have attained purification (purity of heart) and illumination by the Holy Spirit.]

So what makes a normal [spiritually healthy] Orthodox Christian different from the rest of the Orthodox? Is it dogma? Of course not. [Because all Orthodox Christians share the same dogma, but not all Orthodox Christians are spiritually "normal", i.e., healthy.]

Take the Orthodox in general. They all share the same dogma, the same tradition, the same common worship. A church sanctuary, for example, might hold three hundred Orthodox Christians. Of that number, however, only five are in a state of illumination, while the rest of them are not. The rest of them have not even the slightest idea what purification is. So this raises the question: How many among them are normal Orthodox Christians? Unfortunately, out of three hundred, only five are.

All the same, purification and illumination are specific conditions of healing that experienced and illumined spiritual fathers can recognize. So we have here clearlymedical criteria [spiritual illness or health]. Or maybe you are not convinced that these criteria are strictly medical? Consider the fact that the nous is a physiological human organ that everyone has. It is not only Orthodox that have a nous. So do Muslims, Buddhists, and everyone else. So all human beings have the same need for purification and illumination. And there is only one therapeutic treatment.

Or do you think that there are many therapeutic treatments for this illness? And is it really an illness or not?

Present-day Orthodox are hard-pressed to respond to these issues, because they have become so far removed from this tradition today that they no longer think of the Orthodox Christian way of life in the context of sickness and healing. They do not consider Orthodoxy to be a curative course of treatment, even though all the prayers are perfectly clear on this point. After all Who is Christ for Orthodox Christians? Is He not repeatedly invoked in the prayers and hymns of the Church as "the Physician of our souls and bodies"?

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The Martyrdom of the Apostles

Confession of Sins in the Bible and Beyond

Here is what the Scriptures and the Church Fathers say about the necessary participation in this Holy Mystery.

Confession of sins is very much a part of Biblical Faith and especially Biblical Christianity, and was closely related to the worship of the True God. From the Old Testament on, it is clear that men should confess their sins, and this practice, though often neglected and denigrated by scoffers, offers real remission of sins from God. This is the Biblical way, and the way of the early Church, as the following quotes and citations will clearly demonstrate. Indeed, any faith which professes to be Biblical or which claims to follow the ways of the early Church, but does not include confession as a part of its teachings is demonstrably outside of the stream of Christian teachings and practice throughout the ages.

In The Old Testament

“he shall confess his sin that he has committed. And he shall make full restitution for his wrong, adding a fifth to it and giving it to him to whom he did the wrong.”
(Numbers 5:7)

“Those of Israelite descent separated themselves from all foreigners, and they stood and confessed their sins and the guilt of their fathers. While they stood in their places, they read from the book of the law of the LORD their God for a fourth of the day and spent another fourth of the day in confession and worship of the LORD their God.”
(Nehemiah 9:2-3)

“And read out publicly this scroll which we send you, in the house of the LORD, on the feast day and during the days of assembly: ‘Justice is with the LORD, our God; and we today are flushed with shame, we men of Judah and citizens of Jerusalem, that we, with our kings and rulers and priests and prophets, and with our fathers, have sinned in the LORD’S sight and disobeyed him. We have neither heeded the voice of the LORD, our God, nor followed the precepts which the LORD set before us.’”

(Baruch 1:14-18)

Required by John the Baptist

John the Baptist, inspired by the Holy Spirit, also required confession of sins for the baptism of repentance.

“Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.”
(Matthew 3:6)

“And there went out unto him all the land of Judaea, and they of Jerusalem, and were all baptized of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins.”
(Mark 1:5)

In The New Testament Church

“Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.”

(James 5:16)

“Also many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices.”

(Acts 19:18)

“Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.”
(1 Timothy 6:12)

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

(1 John 1:9)

And What The Early Church Really Did

The Early Church clearly taught confession of sins, and in Church! Indeed, the following citations clearly show that from the very beginnings of the post-Apostolic Church down to the present day, confession of sins was understood as holy, necessary and effectual for the remission of sins. Those who avoid it must necessarily find themselves outside of Biblical thought on sin, repentance and confession. Note the dates of these documents! Of special significance is their recognition that confession and absolution must be received by a sinner before receiving Holy Communion, for

“whoever . . . eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord”
(1 Cor. 11:27).

The Didache - The Earliest Christian Catechism (pre-dating some of the canonical writings of the New Testament)

“Confess your sins in church, and do not go up to your prayer with an evil conscience. This is the way of life. . . . On the Lord’s Day gather together, break bread, and give thanks, after confessing your transgressions so that your sacrifice may be pure”
(Didache 4:14, 14:1 [A.D. 70]).

The Letter of Barnabas

“You shall judge righteously. You shall not make a schism, but you shall pacify those that contend by bringing them together. You shall confess your sins. You shall not go to prayer with an evil conscience. This is the way of light”
(Letter of Barnabas 19 [A.D. 74]).

St. Ignatius of Antioch

“For as many as are of God and of Jesus Christ are also with the bishop. And as many as shall, in the exercise of penance, return into the unity of the Church, these, too, shall belong to God, that they may live according to Jesus Christ”
(Letter to the Philadelphians 3 [A.D. 106]).
“For where there is division and wrath, God does not dwell. To all them that repent, the Lord grants forgiveness, if they turn in penitence to the unity of God, and to communion with the bishop”
(ibid., 8).

St. Irenaeus of Lyons

“[The Gnostic disciples of Marcus] have deluded many women. . . . Their consciences have been branded as with a hot iron. Some of these women make a public confession, but others are ashamed to do this, and in silence, as if withdrawing from themselves the hope of the life of God, they either apostatize entirely or hesitate between the two courses”
(Against Heresies 1:22 [A.D. 189]).

Tertullian of Carthage

“[Regarding confession, some] flee from this work as being an exposure of themselves, or they put it off from day to day. I presume they are more mindful of modesty than of salvation, like those who contract a disease in the more shameful parts of the body and shun making themselves known to the physicians; and thus they perish along with their own bashfulness”
(Repentance 10:1 [A.D. 203]).

St. Hippolytus of Rome

“[The bishop conducting the ordination of the new bishop shall pray:] God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. . . . Pour forth now that power which comes from you, from your royal Spirit, which you gave to your beloved Son, Jesus Christ, and which he bestowed upon his holy apostles . . . and grant this your servant, whom you have chosen for the episcopate, [the power] to feed your holy flock and to serve without blame as your high priest, ministering night and day to propitiate unceasingly before your face and to offer to you the gifts of your holy Church, and by the Spirit of the high priesthood to have the authority to forgive sins, in accord with your command”
(Apostolic Tradition 3 [A.D. 215]).

Origen of Alexandria

“[A final method of forgiveness], albeit hard and laborious [is] the remission of sins through penance, when the sinner . . . does not shrink from declaring his sin to a priest of the Lord and from seeking medicine, after the manner of him who say, ‘I said, “To the Lord I will accuse myself of my iniquity”’”
(Homilies on Leviticus 2:4 [A.D. 248]).

St. Cyprian of Carthage

“The apostle [Paul] likewise bears witness and says: ‘ . . . Whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord’ [1 Cor. 11:27]. But [the impenitent] spurn and despise all these warnings; before their sins are expiated, before they have made a confession of their crime, before their conscience has been purged in the ceremony and at the hand of the priest . . . they do violence to [the Lord’s] body and blood, and with their hands and mouth they sin against the Lord more than when they denied him”
(The Lapsed 15:1–3 (A.D. 251]).
“Of how much greater faith and salutary fear are they who . . . confess their sins to the priests of God in a straightforward manner and in sorrow, making an open declaration of conscience. . . . I beseech you, brethren, let everyone who has sinned confess his sin while he is still in this world, while his confession is still admissible, while the satisfaction and remission made through the priests are still pleasing before the Lord”
(ibid., 28).
“[S]inners may do penance for a set time, and according to the rules of discipline come to public confession, and by imposition of the hand of the bishop and clergy receive the right of Communion. [But now some] with their time [of penance] still unfulfilled . . . they are admitted to Communion, and their name is presented; and while the penitence is not yet performed, confession is not yet made, the hands of the bishop and clergy are not yet laid upon them, the Eucharist is given to them; although it is written, ‘Whosoever shall eat the bread and drink the cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord’ [1 Cor. 11:27]“
(Letters 9:2 [A.D. 253]).
“And do not think, dearest brother, that either the courage of the brethren will be lessened, or that martyrdoms will fail for this cause, that penance is relaxed to the lapsed, and that the hope of peace [i.e., absolution] is offered to the penitent. . . . For to adulterers even a time of repentance is granted by us, and peace is given”
(ibid., 51[55]:20).
“But I wonder that some are so obstinate as to think that repentance is not to be granted to the lapsed, or to suppose that pardon is to be denied to the penitent, when it is written, ‘Remember whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works’ [Rev. 2:5], which certainly is said to him who evidently has fallen, and whom the Lord exhorts to rise up again by his deeds [of penance], because it is written, ‘Alms deliver from death’ [Tob. 12:9]“
(ibid., 51[55]:22).

St. Aphraahat the Persian Sage

“You [priests], then, who are disciples of our illustrious physician [Christ], you ought not deny a curative to those in need of healing. And if anyone uncovers his wound before you, give him the remedy of repentance. And he that is ashamed to make known his weakness, encourage him so that he will not hide it from you. And when he has revealed it to you, do not make it public, lest because of it the innocent might be reckoned as guilty by our enemies and by those who hate us”
(Treatises 7:3 [A.D. 340]).

St. Basil the Great

“It is necessary to confess our sins to those to whom the dispensation of God’s mysteries is entrusted. Those doing penance of old are found to have done it before the saints. It is written in the Gospel that they confessed their sins to John the Baptist [Matt. 3:6], but in Acts [19:18] they confessed to the apostles”
(Rules Briefly Treated 288 [A.D. 374]).

St. John Chrysostom

“Priests have received a power which God has given neither to angels nor to archangels. It was said to them: ‘Whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever you shall loose, shall be loosed.’ Temporal rulers have indeed the power of binding; but they can only bind the body. Priests, in contrast, can bind with a bond which pertains to the soul itself and transcends the very heavens. Did [God] not give them all the powers of heaven? ‘Whose sins you shall forgive,’ he says, ‘they are forgiven them; whose sins you shall retain, they are retained.’ What greater power is there than this? The Father has given all judgment to the Son. And now I see the Son placing all this power in the hands of men [Matt. 10:40; John 20:21–23]. They are raised to this dignity as if they were already gathered up to heaven”
(The Priesthood 3:5 [A.D. 387]).

St. Ambrose of Milan

“For those to whom [the right of binding and loosing] has been given, it is plain that either both are allowed, or it is clear that neither is allowed. Both are allowed to the Church, neither is allowed to heresy. For this right has been granted to priests only”
(Penance 1:1 [A.D. 388]).

St. Jerome of Stridonium

“If the serpent, the devil, bites someone secretly, he infects that person with the venom of sin. And if the one who has been bitten keeps silence and does not do penance, and does not want to confess his wound . . . then his brother and his master, who have the word [of absolution] that will cure him, cannot very well assist him”
(Commentary on Ecclesiastes 10:11 [A.D. 388]).

St. Augustine of Hippo

“When you shall have been baptized, keep to a good life in the commandments of God so that you may preserve your baptism to the very end. I do not tell you that you will live here without sin, but they are venial sins which this life is never without. Baptism was instituted for all sins. For light sins, without which we cannot live, prayer was instituted. . . . But do not commit those sins on account of which you would have to be separated from the body of Christ. Perish the thought! For those whom you see doing penance have committed crimes, either adultery or some other enormities. That is why they are doing penance. If their sins were light, daily prayer would suffice to blot them out. . . . In the Church, therefore, there are three ways in which sins are forgiven: in baptisms, in prayer, and in the greater humility of penance”

(Sermon to Catechumens on the Creed 7:15, 8:16 [A.D. 395]).

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Sayings of Abba Dorotheos of ...

Abba Dorotheus of Gaza

The man who finds fault with himself accepts all things cheerfully – misfortune, loss, disgrace, dishonor and any other kind of adversity. He believes that he is deserving of all these things and nothing can disturb him. No one could be more at peace than this man. But perhaps you will offer me this objection: “Suppose my brother injures me, and on examining myself I find that I have not given him any cause. Why should I blame myself?” Certainly if someone examines himself carefully and with fear of God, he will never find himself completely innocent. He will see that he has given some provocation by an action, a word or by his manner. 

If he does find that he is not guilty in any of these ways, certainly he must have injured that brother somehow at some other time. Or perhaps he has been a source of annoyance to some other brother. For this reason he deserves to endure the injury because of many other sins that he has committed on other occasions. Someone else asks why he should accuse himself when he was sitting peacefully and quietly when a brother came upon him with an unkind or insulting word. He cannot tolerate it, and so he thinks that his anger is justified. If that brother had not approached him and said those words and upset him, he never would have sinned. This kind of thinking is surely ridiculous and has no rational basis. For the fact that he has said anything at all in this situation breaks the cover on the passionate anger within him, which is all the more exposed by his excessive anxiety. If he wished, he would do penance. He has become like a clean, shiny grain of wheat that, when broken, is full of dirt inside. 

The man who thinks that he is quiet and peaceful has within him a passion that he does not see. A brother comes up, utters some unkind word and immediately all the venom and mire that lie hidden within him are spewed out. If he wishes mercy, he must do penance, purify himself and strive to become perfect. He will see that he should have returned thanks to his brother instead of returning the injury, because his brother has proven to be an occasion of profit to him. It will not be long before he will no longer be bothered by these temptations. The more perfect he grows, the less these temptations will affect him. For the more the soul advances, the stronger and more powerful it becomes in bearing the difficulties that it meets.